ACE and 29 other higher education associations submitted an amicus brief (337 KB PDF)
yesterday to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case examining President
Trump's second attempt to ban refugees and immigrants from several
majority-Muslim countries, which has faced months of legal back and
forth on its path to the high court.
The travel ban executive order,
released in March, bars travel to the United States for 90 days for
nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It was
revised from an initial executive order issued in January that spurred
confusion across the country, including on college and university
campuses.
According to the Institute of International Education,
in 2015–16, approximately 15,400 students and 2,100 professors or
researchers in the United States came from one of these six countries.
The Supreme Court in June agreed to take up the two rulings on the executive order from the 4th and 9th Circuit courts of appeals, Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project and Trump v. Hawaii.
In the interim, the justices allowed aspects of the executive order to
take effect, but they did not take a stance on the larger constitutional
questions concerning religious discrimination or presidential
authority, deferring consideration of those issues to the fall.
While recognizing the importance of a strong
visa process to the nation’s security, the associations’ brief focuses
on the importance to U.S. higher education and the country as a whole of
maintaining a welcoming perception to international students and
scholars, and the risks of deterring them from studying, teaching and
researching in the United States.
Roughly one million international students
that attend U.S. colleges and universities add to this country’s
intellectual and cultural vibrancy, and they also yield an estimated
economic impact of $32.8 billion and support 400,000 U.S. jobs,
according to a recent report from NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
The travel ban, the associations claim in their brief, puts those
benefits at risk and sends a message to millions around the globe that
the doors are no longer open to foreign students, scholars, lecturers,
and researchers.
“Right now, there is a “global bidding war”
for talented international students, particularly in the STEM fields,”
the groups wrote. “Foreign countries give substantial cash bonuses and
other benefits to international scholars to entice them to leave the
United States. When the United States immigration policy manifests a
message of exclusion—not to mention an actually exclusionary effect, as
here—fewer students and scholars choose to attend our universities. They
instead go to other countries where they are welcomed with open arms.”
If not reversed, the executive order promises
to have detrimental effects on critical academic exchange by inhibiting
the free cross-border exchange of ideas; dividing students and scholars
from their families; and impairing the ability of American educational
institutions to draw the finest international talent and reap the
associated benefits, according to the brief.
Oral argument in the case is scheduled for Oct. 10.